Title: Climatic and spatial variabilities of potential rainwater savings and economic benefits for Kathmandu Valley

Authors: Monzur A. Imteaz; Ramesh Karki; Iqbal Hossain; Md. Rezaul Karim

Addresses: Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia ' Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia ' Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia ' Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Gazipur 1704, Bangladesh

Abstract: This paper presented a detailed analysis of potential rainwater savings and economic benefits under different climatic conditions in three regions of Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. Analysis was performed using an earlier validated daily water balance model, eTank utilising historical daily rainfall data from the selected regions. It was found that significant climatic and spatial variations exist in potential water savings. Another important finding is that even for neighbouring regions potential water savings are not proportional to the mean annual rainfalls of the regions. Also, it is found that considering a mix of dry, average and wet years, average payback periods of initial investments will vary among the regions from 2.5-3.5 years if the residents use their existing tanks for rainwater harvesting and from approximately 8-11 years if residents need to construct new tanks.

Keywords: rainwater tank; daily water balance; water savings; climatic variability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHST.2017.086942

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology, 2017 Vol.7 No.3, pp.213 - 227

Received: 02 Mar 2016
Accepted: 11 Jun 2016
Published online: 03 Oct 2017 *

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